A Dreamer in a Dream (chapter 13)

Everything came to a halt as I found myself hearing someone's voice through all the static, my thoughts being pulled three different ways like dough or rubber. I desperately tried to focus on their words, slowly separating myself from myself from myself again.

It all left me feeling like one of those Russian nesting dolls.

Finally, I found myself back in the Riverwood Trader, Lucan giving me a worried look like I was about to die on him. And seeing as my head still felt like there were elephants roller skating on it, I could understand.

"Magic," I got out. "I'll live."

That was all it took to put a smile back on his lips. Mages were all one step removed from madmen, after all.

Hungry for some fresh air, I quickly paid the guy for the resupply of blue crack. Twenty magicka potions in total. I would have bought more, but I had apparently already exhausted his supply for the next few months.

I knocked one back as soon as I got outside. I didn't strictly need it, but for whatever reason they always helped with the headaches, exactly like it was doing right now. I soon sat under the shade of a tree, sighing.

It hadn't even been an instruction manual, just a bunch of musings on the nature of the Thu'um. It wouldn't surprise me if the cranky old grandpa had been the one to write it. And while it all begged the question of why something so fucking simple felt like a round in the ring with Mike Tyson, I was still kind of reeling from another revelation.

A quick peek into Oblivion showed that the top of my tower was just shy of the rainbow of Aetherius again, and thank all that was good and merciful for that. Just a taste of that loneliness was enough to make me want to find Skadi and demand hugs.

I picked up a pebble just to keep myself grounded, toying with it. Honestly, it all made too much sense. Why the cart on the way to Helgen? Because I thought it'd be funny.

There were gaps since I hadn't so much gazed into the abyss as took a peek into it, but I knew the tower was everything. Just as my body right now kept me grounded on Mundus, the tower did the same on a grander scale. It was back to that lonely place for me without it.

A sound drew my eyes to Bright-Like-Dawn staring at me, a loaf of bread in her hands. She broke it in half and sat down to hand me the other half.

I hadn't eaten yet but bread by itself seemed kind of dull?

The tiny Argonian girl raised a clawed finger at my lack of enthusiasm as if asking me to wait, and then she breathed swirling black-and-blue flames on it. It was my first time actually seeing her do any magic.

She stopped once the bread turned charred and smoky. "Tastes better," she revealed. And then she tore into it like a walking, talking piranha.

Not that it was much of a revelation. There's nothing like a bit of char to improve the taste of anything.

Bleeding some magicka, I followed her example and turned my hunk of bread into charred goodness.

It also helped bring my thoughts back to more worldly things. Like Mirmulnir, assuming the fuck still decided to show up once we got back to Whiterun. After an old grandpa practically ran us over with a few shouts, I wouldn't be underestimating the real deal. And while I could always pluck another petal and hope for the best, relying on a Daedric Prince to keep bailing me out until I ran out of petals didn't sound like the best of plans.

Bright-Like-Dawn had already finished scarfing down her hunk of bread, only for her belly to rumble hungrily anyway. I was about to thank her when she scampered off in the direction of the inn, probably for more food.

I could have followed her, but I was already inspired, making my way to the clearing that Skadi and I had visited earlier. Except now it was the sun shining down and not the twin moons.

I took in a deep breath as I felt the magicka pouring down my arms, trying to hype myself up. After what happened and has continued to happen when I conjured a familiar, who could blame me for being nervous?

Throwing off those nagging doubts, I clapped my hands, smashing the magicka together. Then I gave a kind of tug, opening a seam in the fabric of reality not unlike plucking a petal had done, and out stepped—or more soared, really—a Flame Atronach.

I quickly closed the seam as I noticed hungry flames extending from it and lapping at the air like tongues, not wanting to burn the forest down. The temperature had noticeably increased in that time, or maybe that was her, staring at me curiously as she gracefully floated around in the air.

Yeah, she was smoking hot. Even as an amalgamation of unnaturally compact flames and what looked like ebony, it was all in a very feminine package. And… uh, where was she going?

"Hey!" The spell was supposed to have bound her in the process, but it didn't seem to have done shit. "I can just put you back!"

But she just laughed in the face of my threat, or at least it sounded like laughter. Uppity Daedra…

"?̷̢̧͙͔̫͖͖̈͆̐̉̍̽̚͜?̸̫̦̟͊̽̊̓̄͠?̷͉͈͎̝̭̥͚͈̳̈̌̒͒̽͝ does not think very highly of you," Mephala helpfully supplied with a slimy whisper in my ear. I wouldn't know how to pronounce what the Daedric Prince just said if you paid me. "Your presence isn't something we Princes often speak to our lessers about."

Rather than admit that I had no idea what I was doing… "A slave will turn on you the moment the opportunity arises," I wisely said.

The Flame Atronach looked at me like I was a moron instead, trying to leave again. So I proved her right by grabbing her arm, the material surrounding the flames even feeling like ebony, metallic and glassy at the same time. It was also hot as all fuck, forcing me to shave even more magicka off to not catch fire.

I should have expected what happened next, that being my hand suddenly trying to eat her, and that had her desperately trying to pull away. I let go after I made sure I got the point across.

She was giving me what looked like an aggrieved look now, but seeing as she didn't try to float away again to do who knows what, I called that progress. Then she immediately launched into a whiny rant in a familiar language, the same one that the Dremora spoke in earlier.

Strangely, I did start to actually understand her the more she cursed me out, making out more and more words in the high and low tones. It just came with another headache.

"Enough," I tried to say in the same language, something in my throat shifting uncomfortably to perform the necessary sounds.

It did get her to stop bombarding me with a headache, at least.

I returned back to something more familiar. "I know you can understand me just fine. If you try and run off to burn down a village for shits and giggles again instead…"

I didn't need to elaborate on the stick again. Finally, she gave an unhappy nod.

"Cheer up, will you? How often do you get to fight a dragon?"

That did seem to perk her up some. Then floating just a hair closer, her ebony lips quirked into a smile.

I'd have made a joke about shaking on it, but I didn't think she'd have found it as funny.

I opened another seam for her to go back home before knocking back another potion instead. That was productive.

"If you want to pretend you are one of us, Abomination, you should know there are easier ways."

Something told me she was fishing again. "Are you a spider or a fisherman?"

There was another haughty sniff from the Ebony Blade.

Returning to Riverwood, the Companions were beginning to come around from their hangovers. We would probably be leaving for Whiterun soon.

Lydia also quickly found me, not too happy with me vanishing while she wasn't looking. I surprised her with a hug instead, not caring how uncomfortable her armor was, and then I demanded the same from a bemused Skadi. Hugs were nice.

It was maybe an hour later that all fourteen of us hit the road. I couldn't even complain about all the walking anymore, my body slowly turning into a cardio machine.

It was only a few days until we were marching back into Whiterun like conquering heroes. Or most of us, at least. The three former bandits were more nervously looking around at all the guards than trying to look heroic.

The Companions soon returned to Jorrvaskr, but not before some spirited farewells and invitations to visit. I'd keep it in mind if I ever wanted to be neck-deep in werewolves.

As we ascended back up the steps to Dragonsreach and found Farengar, there was someone already with him, a woman with a hood over her head.

Right. That was supposed to be Delphine. Somehow she had beat us here?

Farengar was muttering something about the First and Merethic Eras when Delphine helpfully cleared her throat. I noticed her quietly making her escape as Farengar fussed over the Dragonstone Skadi handed to him. You'd think it was a baby and not a hunk of fancy stone.

After that, everything happened almost exactly how I remembered it. Which was kind of creepy with everything that's changed.

Skadi almost immediately agreed to go, something heavy in her eyes, like she was following the motions of something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"Now the mad thane wants Yanadz-jo to fight dragons," the cat complained from her throne of orange curls. Orryn and Tolfi were just as nervous, but they didn't voice it.

"You can spend your time in the dungeons instead," I reminded her.

Coming with us were a company of burly Nords overflowing with bravado. Bright-Like-Dawn meanwhile was munching on a sweetroll she stole off one of the tables without a care in the world.

Irileth soon barked some orders for her company, though her very red eyes were staring more at us than them. Maybe she hoped we knew some tricks on surviving a dragon attack.

We traveled west of Whiterun this time, through seemingly endless hills and valleys. And when we found the watchtower, it seemed abandoned, parts of it scorched black. Presumably by the same thing that left the fields all around it a burnt out husk.

Someone did run out though, a nervous wreck of a man. "Get inside! Quickly! It's still here somewhere!" His eyes frantically swept the sky. "Hroki and Tor… they tried to make a run for it. Picked them up right from the ground and tore them apart."

Irileth tried to shake some sense into him. "Where is it?"

"I don't know! It comes and goes, toying with—" As if on cue a monstrous roar shook the ground itself. It even shook my bones somehow. "Kynareth save us, here it comes again…"

There's a mad dash from everyone to the watchtower, but not quick enough for some. "YOL TOOR SHUL!"

The shout broke the air like a scythe, and from the sky fell fire enough to drown a whale, those who had been a little too slow on the uptake literally turning into ash on the wind.

The rest of us wisely dogpiled into the watchtower. Everyone except for Skadi. Not again…

I had a plan in mind, but to do it I had to not get immediately turned to ash. And like with the Tongue, I couldn't actually feel any magicka from it, so I couldn't eat it.

"RU JOORS FAH MIRMULNIR BO!" The words rang out like a bell, loud and clanging and vaguely mocking.

I heard Mirmulnir's wings more than I saw them, though the tower did go dark under his shadow.

"MINDOL HI GOLZ FEN SPAAN HI?" Yeah, he was definitely mocking us. "KREN!"

The crack of too much stone suddenly rocked the tower at the word. It was like an earthquake hit it. Maybe Skadi had the right idea after all.

"OUT NOW!" I shouted. I didn't know if anyone heard me with all the ruckus, but they had eyes.

"KREN MAHFAERAAK!" The whole thing was falling apart around us, and all I could do was try and slow it down by freezing the stones over. It only helped so much, and there were still men inside when it all came down with a thundering crash, dirt and dust and rubble thrown into the air.

Irileth was practically shaking with rage as she pointed at the monstrosity in the sky. "KILL IT, KILL THE DAMNED BEAST!" What bowmen were left tried, loosing arrow after arrow, but those that didn't miss completely bounced harmlessly off starkly white scales.

"JOOR ZUN?" Mirmulnir was soaring down again. This was going to be a slaughter, and Skadi wasn't looking like she was going to fly anytime soon, the arrows she was lobbing at him just as pointless.

I had to distract him. I had a plan. I just had to hope it worked…

Magicka pouring off of me, I tore a seam into the world again high above me, and out of it soared the Flame Atronach again. It seemed she had remembered my words as she came out swinging, miniature suns springing from her hands and slamming into Mirmulnir like artillery.

It distracted him just as I hoped. "DEYRA?" The word was full of loathing, and the Flame Atronach laughed at him. "KOS VOKIIN!" The oppressive word slammed into her like a physical thing, but I was ready for it, breathing out more magicka and pouring it into her. "RUTH DEYRA!"

As Mirmulnir raged, more arrows plonking off of him, I saw the opportunity I hoped for.

I downed another magicka potion, the blue raspberry filling in the blanks that were starting to appear, but magicka potions weren't the only thing I bought from Lucan. And while he only had one, that was enough.

Lydia had found her way to me just as I uncorked it, the liquid inside not blue but orange and yellow, and crackling like lightning. It didn't seem safe to drink at all.

I still downed it, and… wow. I laughed like a madman as the Draught of Destruction began to twist and turn like a whirlpool in my stomach. The magicka poured out of me freely now, moisture being pulled in from as far as the clouds and flash frozen.

I smiled at Mirmulnir, all teeth. I was going to bring that fucker back down to earth.

The spear of ice I formed this time was something to behold, at least as tall as three Skadis, and it wasn't stopping. I downed some more of the sweet blue, feeling it quicken the whirlpool in my stomach, allowing me to flood the world with even more of my magicka.

Finally, I threw it as hard as I could with my metaphysical might, a thing of beauty as it arced through the air, spawning rainbows as the sun caught on it. I laughed giddily as it lodged itself in one of Mirmulnir's wings with an angry screech from him, a river of blood falling to the ground.

It was exactly where I was aiming for.

"LO?" Those hateful eyes locked on me, the Flame Atronach ignored despite her assault continuing, leaving more and more charbroiled patches on his scales. "MEY JOOR!"

He was having trouble flying now, but he still managed to swoop close to me. "MINDOL HI IIZ FEN VIIK DOVAH?" That maw opened wide, and I didn't think. I lifted a stunned Lydia and hauled ass. "FO KRAH DIIN!"

A kaleidoscope of ice crashed down on us, tearing me and her to ribbons, but I refused. I was learning. We might have died a dozen times over, the two of us, but there was a way out, and I took it.

"JOOR LO!" I could practically taste the frustration in his words. "TIID LO!?"

I set a disoriented Lydia down, turning around to face Mirmulnir again. I then tried to create some distance between my housecarl and me. It was easier if I didn't try and take passengers.

"TIID-AHRAAN…" He seemed to come to some kind of conclusion just in time to eat another spear from me. I hoped he choked on it, and it did seem to be taking a toll on him, leaving him swaying in the air.

"ZU'U FEN OBLAAN HI!" The furious mass of white smashed into the ground hard.

I finally got my first good look at him, and I didn't like what I saw. Too many teeth, for one. Still, I only smiled as he barreled my way like a freight train.

Why? Because Skadi was right on his ass, and I knew how this ended. Also I'd already turned my flesh to stone.

The sound of glass breaking sounded like a techno beat again as I found a way out of being run over, something that had him raging even harder. "DIR JOOR!" He tried to swallow me whole, but that didn't work either. "RU MEY FAH MIRMULNIR SAHROT!"

It all felt like some kind of Benny Hill montage as I was chased around by a dragon. And seeing Skadi soon running across his back only added to my amusement.

"LO…" Mirmulnir seemed to have noticed her as well. It's followed by three words that slowed the world to a crawl. "TIID KLO UL!"

It felt like I was trying to wade through molasses now. I saw him try and throw her off, but Skadi was stubborn, so he lunged for me instead. There wasn't anything I could really do to stop him, so I just laughed at him as his maw closed around a good chunk of me.

He had just given my wife-to-be the opening she needed, landing on his head.

CRACK

Her axe had sunk into his skull, but the fucker was somehow alive still, twisting and turning in pain with me still in his mouth. The axe was already rising again, slick with blood and bone.

"LAAS WAHL—"

CRACK

I could feel him slowing, weakening, and I took advantage to freeze his massive jaw to the ground as I escaped his maw. Something like recognition entered his eyes as Skadi's monster of an axe rose high into the air for a third time.

"DOVAHKIIN?" The axe descended. "̴̖͈̞͈̼̳͍͎̼̫͍̳̫̎͆̽͜͜D̸͎͓̻̝̱͓̩̘͈̣̺̖̥̓̅̓͐͘Ó̷̢̙̞̻̲̰̭̇͋̎͗̇̾̓̎͘̕͘V̴̢̬͔̙̳͎͖̫̹̱̳̓̅̍͂͆̈́͂͘̕͠A̵̧̧̟͈͇̥̘͇͍̖̠͑̈́͌H̷̰̪̝̪̞͉̪̋̀̍̌́̈́͐͐̒̔̿͒͘͠K̵̡̰̳̲͖̦̲̯̯̘̉̓͊̐͋̃̋̿̀́̏̓͆̾̈̈́̕Ì̷̢̹̘̪̰̙̀̀̏̾̒̋̿̅͜͝͝Ỉ̵̯̜̪͊̃Ṅ̷̝͈̬̮̜͐̏̇̂̇͗̎͌̒͆̓̈́̚̕͝͝ ̴̺̌́͛̑̃̀̚N̶͎͚̓̑̽̋͊̇̃Į̷̢̡̼̗̹̾̋̉͂́̍͜͠—̶̛̳̖̤̹͉̫̪͚̮͛̐͛̓̽̿͆̉"̵̛͎̉̓̃͊͑͊̂̌̈́̿̽̕

CRACK

This time the dragon collapsed like a puppet with its string cuts, all the rage and pain dying in a whimper.

I watched with rapt attention as Mirmulnir's scales began to slough away, followed closely by muscle and sinew, all of it evaporating into something hard to describe. Is that what a soul here looked like?

It hung in the air for a few breaths before it moved, pouring almost violently into a surprised Skadi.

It wasn't like I was surprised, but seeing was believing, as they say.

Dragonborn.

Mirmulnir = Mir Mul Nir = Allegiance Strong Hunt

"YOL TOR SHUL!" = FIRE INFERNO SUN! (i.e. the Fire Breath shout)

"RU JOORS FAH MIRMULNIR BO!" = RUN MORTALS FOR MIRMULNIR HAS COME!

“MINDOL HI GOLZ FEN SPAAN HI?” = THINK YOU STONE WILL SHIELD YOU?

“KREN!” = BREAK/SHATTER!

“KREN MAHFAERAAK!” = BREAK/SHATTER FOREVER!

“JOOR ZUN?” = MORTAL WEAPONRY?

“DEYRA?” = DAEDRA?

“KOS VOKIIN!” = BE UNMADE!

“RUTH DEYRA!” = ACCURSED DAEDRA!

“LO?” = DECEPTION/TRICKERY?

“MEY JOOR!” = FOOLISH MORTAL!

“MINDOL HI IIZ FEN VIIK DOVAH?” = THINK YOU ICE WILL DEFEAT ME?

“FO KRAH DIIN!” = FROST COLD FREEZE! (i.e. the Frost Breath shout)

“JOOR LO!” = MORTAL DECEPTION/TRICKERY!

“TIID LO!?” = TIME DECEPTION/TRICKERY!?

“TIID-AHRAAN…” = TIME-WOUND/DRAGON BREAK…

“ZU'U FEN OBLAAN HI!” = I WILL END YOU!

“DIR JOOR!” = DIE MORTAL!

“RU MEY FAH MIRMULNIR SAHROT!” = RUN FOOL FROM MIRMULNIR'S MIGHT!

“TIID KLO UL!” = TIME SAND ETERNITY! (i.e. the Slow Time shout)

“LAAS WAHL—” = LIFE BUILD/RAISE/CREATE—

“…DOVAHKIIN?” = …DRAGONBORN?

“̴̖͈̞͈̼̳͍͎̼̫͍̳̫̎͆̽͜͜D̸͎͓̻̝̱͓̩̘͈̣̺̖̥̓̅̓͐͘Ó̷̢̙̞̻̲̰̭̇͋̎͗̇̾̓̎͘̕͘V̴̢̬͔̙̳͎͖̫̹̱̳̓̅̍͂͆̈́͂͘̕͠A̵̧̧̟͈͇̥̘͇͍̖̠͑̈́͌H̷̰̪̝̪̞͉̪̋̀̍̌́̈́͐͐̒̔̿͒͘͠K̵̡̰̳̲͖̦̲̯̯̘̉̓͊̐͋̃̋̿̀́̏̓͆̾̈̈́̕Ì̷̢̹̘̪̰̙̀̀̏̾̒̋̿̅͜͝͝Ỉ̵̯̜̪͊̃Ṅ̷̝͈̬̮̜͐̏̇̂̇͗̎͌̒͆̓̈́̚̕͝͝ ̴̺̌́͛̑̃̀̚N̶͎͚̓̑̽̋͊̇̃Į̷̢̡̼̗̹̾̋̉͂́̍͜͠—̶̛̳̖̤̹͉̫̪͚̮͛̐͛̓̽̿͆̉”̵̛͎̉̓̃͊͑͊̂̌̈́̿̽̕ = DRAGONBORN NO—